


Count the Letters

by SpiritsFlame



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Boys Are Dumb, M/M, Ouija Boards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-19
Updated: 2013-11-19
Packaged: 2018-01-02 01:32:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiritsFlame/pseuds/SpiritsFlame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If Jason doesn't stop his clumsy and heavy-handed matchmaking, Nico is probably going to have to kill him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Count the Letters

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this comic  
> http://joker-ace.tumblr.com/post/67432584932/no-shut-up-leo-its-real-based-off-from-x

Nico is willing cut Jason some slack because he knows that Jason is just trying to help. And that goes a long way, it really does. But seriously, if Jason tries to help him one more time, Nico is going to introduce Jason's face to his fist. 

And the worst part is that Percy, who has always been a bit smarter than people give him credit for, is starting get suspicious. 

Which is just- no. Not ok. 

The ouija board thing, that's going far, even for Jason. (To be fair, the closet thing had been too far. This is beyond even that.) 

Ever since Percy and Annabeth broke up so that Annabeth could go find herself in Roman architecture, Jason has been insufferable. 

"Woah, this is so weird!" Jason exclaims in the over-the-top way that he always slips into whenever Percy and Nico are in the same room together. It’s been over a year and Nico is getting really, really tired of it.

Nico can feel the ouija board move under his hands and he glances down, startled. “Wha-”

Then he sees the now too-familiar look of mischievous concentration on Jason’s face and gets an inkling of where this is going.

“Y-O-U” Percy reads, slowly. “T-W-O”

“Wow, something is really happening!” Jason exclaims. 

“I’m still not sure this is a good idea,” Frank says, but he keeps his hands on the board, so he can’t feel too strongly about it.

“I swear to the gods, Grace, I will end you,” Nico hisses. Jason has the nerve to wink at him and the board continue to move.

“S-H-O-U-L-D.” 

“You two should,” Leo strings together. Of all of them, Leo is probably the least dyslexic, and the best able to read the stupid ouija board. He makes up for it by being by far the most ADHD though, so that was ok.

“Should what?” Percy asks.

The board moves again, and Jason and Percy read out together. “D-A-T-E.”

“Date?” Leo says, his tone making it a question.

“Wow, that is so weird!” Jason exclaims again. Nico kicks him. Hard. “Ow!”

“What is it?” Percy asks.

Jason makes a face that’s clearly a brave attempt at a smile. “It’s just one spirited ghost.”

“It’s kind of a weird ghost,” Leo says, squinting at the board. “Are we sure the board isn’t broken?”

He looks like he’s about to pick it up and examine it, as if it’s something that works on clockwork like one of his machines. Jason catches his hand, stopping him.

“It’s not that weird,” Jason protests.

Percy gives him a suspicious look. “You were just saying that-”

“It looks to me like this ghost thinks two of us should date!” Jason says loudly, barrelling right over Percy.

“Woah!” Frank says, taking his hands off the board and holding them up defensively. “I’ve got a girlfriend.” And then, to Nico’s horrified amusement, Frank looks to Leo. “Not that I’m not, you know, flattered.”

Leo stands up so fast the ouija board topples over. “Woah, wait, what? I have a girlfriend too you know! And you are so not my type!”

“You’re not my type either!” Frank protests. Leo’s eyebrows are starting to singe a little.

Percy snorts into his hand, then guffaws. In a few seconds, he’s bent over the table, laughing uproariously. 

He looks stupid when he laughs like that, Nico thinks. His face goes all red, his mouth opened wide and his eyes squeezed close. It shouldn’t make Nico’s heart clench, make his breath catch. He can’t help himself though, and he feels overwhelmingly fond as he stares down at Percy.

Then he makes the mistake of catching Jason’s eyes and has to turn his own amused smile into a scowl. Jason doesn’t look fooled. 

“I don’t think the board meant you two,” Jason says. “Or me. I also have a girlfriend. I bet the ghost meant the two people here who are unattached. I doubt the ghost supports infidelity.”

“Big words, Grace,” Percy smirks.

Nico kicks Jason again. He can see Jason’s eyes water in pain, but he keeps that stupid grin on his face. Asshole.

“This doesn’t seem very legitimate,” Frank says dubiously.

“I don’t know guys,” Jason says. “I think that this ghost wants you two to date.”

He’s looking directly at Percy and Nico is going to strangle him. With his bare hands. Without remorse.

“Who?” Percy points at himself, then at Nico.

Jason nods. He is a deadman.

Then Percy turns to look at Nico, and Nico is caught under those green eyes. He hates how Percy makes him feel, even after all this time. Percy cocks an eyebrow at him.

“Well, Nico? What do you think?”

“About-” Nico’s voice comes out in a hoarse squeak. He clears his throat and tries again. “About what?”

Percy’s eyes are sparkling with amusement and Nico is having trouble breathing. “About this ghost, of course. Can’t you talk to it?”

Jason is staring at Nico so hard that Nico can physically feel it. Leo and Frank have, by some miracle, stopped squabbling and have fallen silent.

“I, um.” Nico makes the mistake of glancing at Jason.

Jason is giving him this look that says ‘don’t blow it.’ Then, to Nico’s utter disbelief, the idiot actually flashes him a totally unsubtle thumbs up. From the way Percy’s mouth quirks up, he didn’t miss it either.

Forget murder. Nico is going to go drown himself in the lake. Except, of course, the lake is Percy territory, so that was probably a terrible idea as well.

“Well?” Percy presses. He’s too close. When did he get this close? Nico’s head is swimming. “Does the ghost think we should date?”

Someone nudges Nico, someone too far away to be Jason. What is going on here?

Confused and dizzy and a little bit turned on from Percy’s proximity (he can feel Percy’s breath on his neck, when did he get this close?) Nico blurts out the first thing that comes to his mouth.

“Yeah, I think it does.”

Oh gods. 

Then Percy grins, all smoky promise, and Nico is glad that he’s not standing, because he’s pretty sure that his knees just went weak. “We don’t want to anger any ghosts, do we?”

And then, oh gods, Percy is leaning in to press a kiss to Nico’s lips. Nico gasps, and Percy presses closer. It’s nothing like Nico imagined. It’s better. Percy tastes like the sea and totally unlike it at once. 

“Get with the program,” Percy whispers, pulling away just enough to speak, still close enough that their lips are touching.

Gods.

Nico surges forward, knocking Percy backwards. Percy laughs and catches him, landing sprawled on his back, Nico on top of him. Percy’s hands settle on his waist and Nico kisses him, hard and fierce. It’s like when they spar, all the energy and passion, and it’s so much more than that.

Percy’s hand slides up his back up curl around Nico’s neck, tugging him closer. 

When Nico pulls back to gasp for breath, the other boys are gone, and Percy is grinning up at him. His eyes are sparkling, his cheeks flushed. It’s a good look on him.

“So?” Percy asks. “Are we going to date now?”

In lieu of an answer, Nico presses back down and kisses him again.

Percy laughs into his mouth, and Nico has a split second warning when Percy’s hands tighten their grip, and then he’s being flipped around so that Percy is crouched over him.

Percy is careful to cradle his neck, but Nico’s head hits something hard. He turns to look at it, and sees the stupid ouija board. 

Then everything clicks into place.

Nico puts a hand out, against Percy’s chest. He has to stop himself from getting distracted, because he can probably get away with touching that now… No. Not right now.

“You planned this!” There was no way Jason could have moved the board by himself. And it was Percy who was reading off the letters.

Percy grins down at him, totally unrepentant. “What are you going to do about it.”

Nico surges up, making Percy follow his trajectory or get Nico’s skull to his jaw. And then Nico keeps going until Percy falls back and Nico is on top again. It’s not a careless sprawl this time, but a deliberate crouch. Percy is still smiling at him, warm and eager.

“You are going to pay for this, Jackson.”

Percy leans up to steal a kiss. “Oh, I planned that too.”

And, well, what can Nico do but kiss him?

**Author's Note:**

> For questions, comments and queries, check out my tumblr by the same name!


End file.
